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Wednesday, April 4, 2012

The Peace Bridge hits the mark

They came, they saw, they crossed - literally in the thousands. And as if opening day of the Peace Bridge wasn’t enough, they kept coming after that, too.

Preliminary counts over a 24-hour period March 27-28 show there were 4,400 users on the bridge. About 89 per cent were pedestrians and 11 per cent (about 475 users) were cyclists.

Transportation predicted up to 5,000 people a day would use the bridge in the first year. The three busy bridges serving pedestrians into the west end of downtown – namely the Louise Bridge, the 9A Street LRT Bridge and the Prince’s Island Bridge - carried a combined 13,050 pedestrians and cyclists per day across their decks in 2007. This was a telling picture of the need for better access to downtown for pedestrians and cyclists.

“The need for the Peace Bridge was evident at that time based on the usage and congestion we were seeing on the other bridges,” says Malcolm Logan, General Manager of Transportation. “We are extremely pleased with these preliminary numbers but also not surprised.”

Centre City’s population is expected to double to 60,000 residents by 2035 and employment to grow 50%, from 120,000 to 180,000 jobs by 2025. Growth of the communities in and around the city centre is expected to continue, as well as densities in the inner city, including Eau Claire, East Village, Hillhurst-Sunnyside and The Bridges. The Bridge’s and River’s communities are projected to have approximately 11,000 residents and 12,000 jobs.

The City’s Transportation Department will include the Peace Bridge on its annual count of all bridges heading into the downtown core, which is conducted each May.